Little Lady Fauntleroy (DVD)

They all thought he was another Mozart...in fact he could barely play chopsticks! Welcome to the world of Harpo Marx-lookalike James Harries
the child genius who appeared regularly on tv chat shows in the 80s and early 90s. Billed as a child prodigy, he astonished the nation with his apparently encyclopaedic knowledge of antiques, his love of good manners and his desire to become Prime Minister! What ever happened to him...? Find out in 'Little Lady Fauntleroy', an extraordinary documentary that tracks down James Harries and his family. And what a family. At first sight, they may seem to be a houseful of geniuses, but although every single member has a PhD in Metaphysics, we soon discover that some were purchased from a fake university in the USA, while the others were awarded to them by themselves. Nevertheless, their walls are dotted with these certificates, degrees, and awards - all of them 100% fake. Yet as the programme proceeds, it eerily becomes apparent that this is a family that believes its own mythology. They regard themselves as morally, intellectually, and financially superior to the rest of society, even though the clan (housed in a mock-Tudor cottage in the middle of a Cardiff council estate) includes a convicted arsonist, an astral projectionist, a former Bunny Girl, a part-time private detective and a sex-change daughter (James is now Lauren), all of whom seem to live their lives in a parallel universe, tantalisingly close to our own. 'Little Lady Fauntleroy' veers between the cringe-making and the coolly analytical as it records the way that madness lives among us and dresses (more or less) like we do. We experience Keith Allen's's quiet horror and incredulity from the very first frame as he gradually comes to terms with the insanity of the household he's walked into. By the end, it has become apparent that the Harries' one genuine talent is an apparently endless ability to promote themselves in the media, an ability diminished not one iota when they are confronted with the gaping chasm between the fantasy of their lives, and harsh reality. The denouement brings Allen to this inevitable conclusion: ..."these people are fascinated by TV and only happy being filmed - but even sadder is the fact that television is fascinated by them and people like them, which is why it keeps returning to them year after year."

43 minutes of unseen outtakes
Audio commentary featuring Keith Allen, Victor Lewis-Smith and Ned Parker